Talk:Belarus

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Belarus is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on July 27, 2010.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
September 6, 2005	Peer review	Reviewed
September 18, 2005	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
October 5, 2005	Peer review	Reviewed
November 29, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
February 24, 2007	Good article nominee	Listed
March 26, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
June 13, 2007	Featured topic candidate	Not promoted
July 30, 2007	Peer review	Reviewed
December 10, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
December 27, 2007	Featured article candidate	Promoted
January 16, 2021	Featured article review	Demoted
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on July 3, 2007, July 3, 2008, July 3, 2009, July 3, 2010, July 3, 2011, July 3, 2012, July 3, 2013, July 3, 2014, and July 3, 2015.
Current status: Former featured article

Belarus Top‑importance

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Countries

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Russia: Politics and law High‑importance

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Guild of Copy Editors

This article was copy edited by Galena11, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on 13 June 2008.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors

Previous copyedits:
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	This article was copy edited by RedPen on 19 February 2007.
	This article was copy edited by Galena11 on 20 October 2007.

The following reference(s) may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Korosteleva, Elena; Petrova, Irina; Kudlenko, Anastasiia (2023). Belarus in the Twenty-First Century: Between Dictatorship and Democracy. Routledge. ISBN 9781032318059.

Archives

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 90 days are automatically archived by if there are more than 5.

Kurapaty

Again. 35,000 were executed in Belarus under Stalin (not only in Kurapaty), according to NKVD archives. "250,000 killed in Kurapaty" is ridiculous, please co1, 5 June 2025 (UTC)

Some typos and schenanigans on the Belarus mainpage

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1. Water area Infobox says Water: 1.4% (2.830 or 1.093 sq mi)

CIA and EBSCO note the water takes 4,700 sq km out of 207,600 sq km == 2.26%

Also, the Geography of Belarus page shows 4,700 km.

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/about/archives/2023/countries/belarus/summaries/ https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/geography-and-cartography/belarus

Done STEMinfo (talk) 19:55, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

2. Population density doesn't match the population/area shown Infobox shows 2025 pop. 9'109'280 and area 207'595 - 207'600 km², but also shows density 45.8/sq km. 9109280 / 207600 is about 43.87

Done STEMinfo (talk) 19:55, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

3. Two different total area numbers on the same page

Lead text says 207,600 sq km while the infobox uses 207,595 sq km. Pick one (most official Belarus/UN/Factbook sources use 207,600), and make it consistent across the page

Done STEMinfo (talk) 19:55, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

4. "Recognized minority languages: Polish, Ukrainian, Yiddish" is likely misleading/unsourced as a legal status

Constitution Article 17 states Belarusian and Russian are the official languages. Belarus has not ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (so there is no national list of legally “recognized” minority languages akin to Charter practice). Either remove that line or clearly rephrase and source it (e.g., "widely used minority languages include").

Done STEMinfo (talk) 19:55, 8 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Zhrkvl (talk) 12:44, 3 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 29 October 2025

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The history section in the infobox is for events relevant to Belarus's formation. Therefore, in the history section of the infobox, please remove:

1. References to the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia.
2. References to the Declaration of State Sovereignty, as this is better serviced by the Declaration of Independence.
3. References to the (first) Republic of Belarus (better serviced by the DoI)
4. References to the dissolution of the Soviet Union (ditto)
5. References to the Union State, as it is not relevant to the formation of Belarus. TheodoresTomfooleries (talk) 22:03, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Partly done: I've removed all except for the dissolution of the Soviet Union. I think it makes sense to keep that date, because it's when Belarus's independence became fully internationally recognized. Day Creature (talk) 04:12, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Grammar

For most of the medieval period, the lands of modern-day Belarus was ruled by independent city-states such as the Principality of Polotsk. – should be “were”. ~2025-35468-52 (talk) 07:04, 14 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Done

Thank you for the good catch! 23impartial (talk) 12:24, 23 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Section Ethymology, needs wikilink to White_Army in phrase "confused with White Russia..."

Section Ethymology, needs wikilink to White_Army in phrase about White Russia in the meaning of party in Russian Civil war. Average Encyclopedia Fan (talk) 07:32, 29 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 31 May 2026

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Change "different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922" to "different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the Civil War, ultimately ending with the consolidation of the Belarusian People's Republic, which was replaced by the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922" Deminly (talk) 10:49, 31 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want made. It doesn't make any sense to mention the BNR there, because it was only one of the states competing for legitimacy and ceased to exist in 1919. Day Creature (talk) 16:53, 31 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]